JB King was an Early 20th Century Tagger

[Uncle Rico]

I came across some early 20th century graffiti while I was out in the Ventura County back-country yesterday. I was on the Ortega Trail (which is now an ORV route) scouting a potential route to North Fork Point (3485) when I stumbled upon the name "JB King 1908 Jan 30" and a cross of some sort etched into a trailside rock. I've been on the Ortega Trail before, but I somehow had missed this which is surprising since it's on a large rock immediately adjacent to the trail. Anyway, visually it appeared to be old, but you can never really tell with these kinds of things. But, the Ortega Trail was historically used as a route to bring cattle from the Cuyama Valley down to Ventura (http://ojaihistory.com/reminiscences-of ... ojai-no-5/) so that that would seem to support the idea that the engraving is authentic. As a side note, I personally can't imagine driving cattle down this rocky, steep route, but that's why I'd make a shitty vaquero.

Anyway, when I got home, I did a little digging and found this 1995 LA Times article that talks about the engraving.

Apparently, there was a J.B. King that lived in Ojai in the early 20th century and the engraving has been attributed to him. I guess it's not known why King decided to inscribe his name on this particular rock since its at a bit of an odd location. He's not buried there. And they didn't have IG back then so JB wasn't going to get any notoriety from fellow taggers. Either way, kind of interesting.

Here's a pic:

[Sean]

The cross resembles a Calvary Cross, though the base is different. And the "N" in his last name is backwards, like the Cyrillic letter for an "i". If this was intended to be some code, rather than a simple mistake, one might interpret the message as JB considering himself linked to or a part of Jesus Christ. He has placed a secret "I" in the word "king", which is both his last name and a reference to Jesus, King of the Jews, who died on the cross at Calvary. Why JB went up there on January 30, 1908, I have no idea. According to the Internets, that was a rather unremarkable Thursday. Though some people believe Jesus died on a Thursday, if he rose three days later on a Sunday.

[Uncle Rico]

Well, the Times article does say King was a Reverend at the Holiness Church in Ojai, so maybe you're onto something.

King's obituary in The Ojai of that year makes no mention of backcountry exploits that would have occurred 24 years before his death. But it does say that King, born in 1875 in Ashland, Ky., was a member of the Holiness Church in Ojai, and it addresses him as Reverend King.

The Holiness Church, however, is long gone, so no one is around to address the question of whether The Reverend John B. King, in carving a cross in outback stone, was attempting to deify the Ortega Trail or even hold freezing services there. In any event, King's defacements do seem somewhat sanitized by the apparent holy impulse.

[Girl Hiker]

Nice find Uncle Rico.
Sean has so much time on his hands investigate many interesting things.

[CrazyHermit]

Wow, incredible find. Reminds me of the crosses on Oak Island.

[Uncle Rico]

Reminds me of the crosses on Oak Island.

Another Oak Island devotee!

[Gene]

Reminds me of the crosses on Oak Island.

Another Oak Island devotee!

My wife is addicted to that TV show. The most annoying thing is comment voice, .e.g., "(Anything found) could it be a Templar (Anything found)?"

They can make a single weeks work into an entire season of TV shows.?

[CrazyHermit]

I love the part where they go into the "WAR ROOM" and drink beer while they discuss spending billions of Marty's dollars to find "more wood".
The whole show could be boiled down to one season. I've switched over to Snake Island, where they actually "find something"

[Gene]

The real "treasure" finders are the rental outfits supplying equipment for a never ending search.